The Ringers
by LavenderVerbose
Summary: They call it RTP or Reverberating Tinnitus Psychosis. They being the Government. The rest of the world calls it The Ringers, or at least they did until the day communication ended.
1. Chapter 1 - How it All Began

How it All Began

They call it RTP or Reverberating Tinnitus Psychosis. They being the Government. The rest of the world calls it Ringers, or at least they did until the day communication ended.

The first few cases the doctors thought were some sort of acoustic tinnitus, severe ringing in the ears followed by headaches and depression. But the onset of the symptoms seemed to come too quickly, and the depression soon turned to aggression and finally a psychotic state where they could no longer be communicated with. It is believed that by that point they could no longer hear, or at least not hear anything but the intense ringing. They became violent, attacking others, and eventually they went into some type of sensory overload. Once blood started coming out of their ears death seemed to come quickly.

For years everyone feared the day that one Government would come up with some horrific biological weapon. Some of the best scary movies were made from this very theory… genetic mutants, zombies, viruses that regenerated dead flesh or gave humans super human strength. Most of us, at least those of us with any sense of logic or common sense, knew that the chances of the zombie apocalypse were a bit on the slim side. Sure, it made for great entertainment, but there was not going to be some plague wiping out the world.

And then came RTP. I remember the first time I heard about it, I was sitting in my classroom, the students were off on lunch, and I trying to finish typing up my lesson plans before I left for an extended weekend to attend a training seminar in Boston.. An e-mail came in from the Superintendent Beatrice Anderson with a big red exclamation point which is usually reserved for there being a bear on the school grounds or some sort of early dismissal, she does not use the big red exclamation point very often and so we knew when it was marked like that it was definitely something to open ASAP.

As I started reading it I was a little confused to be honest. It was a news story out of New Hampshire where seven cases of an undiagnosed illness had popped up in a rural farming community. At that time it was described as some sort of hysteria, but because it affected more than one individual they knew that it potential of being an epidemic, and so the CDC was involved. The story gave some symptoms including ringing in the ears, headaches, dizziness, disorientation, nausea, and in some cases, extreme violent behavior. Not exactly the typical e-mail and at the time I wasn't really sure why it served any importance to us hundreds of miles away in Massachusetts, but later that night I got my answer.

At about 7:30 I received an e-mail from Beatrice, she often sent e-mails out to staff before the very same message was sent out to all parents in the district, and before the audio messages came to our phones. School was being cancelled, as was the training session in Boston, and the field trip at the end of the week to Sturbridge Village for the elementary school. Two students in the district, two of nearly 3,000 students, had developed symptoms as described in the news story, and although the CDC was yet to be contacted, the Superintendent felt it best to take precautions until those students were cleared. Of course within an hour there was a mixture of status messages and Tweets varying from excitement for a few days off, to the Superintendent overreacting because a couple kids came down with ear infections. The eleven o'clock news however, shed a little more light onto the subject.

By eleven there were nearly ninety cases and they were not just located in the upper north east of the United States, but in other areas of the country, Canada, Russia, China, Great Britain, and Asia. Of the ninety cases, over half had already died. In fact, since diagnosis it seemed that the illness only seemed to speed up. By the next morning the number of people affected had grown significantly into the thousands. The one thing that remained consistent with all of the cases was that it started with ringing in the ears and ended in death within hours, and for some, not even that long.

What was clear is that the disease was spreading, and it was spreading to everyone regardless of sex, age, and race. It was affecting people in areas from big cities to rural towns. What was unclear is what was causing it and how it was spreading. Spreading very quickly.


	2. Chapter 2 - Hysteria

Chapter Two - Hysteria

I haven't been back to work since that Wednesday over six months ago. The cases of those affected began to grow exponentially. After only a week several hundred thousand people had already died. Even though some of the first cases had been broadcasted about a rural farming community and that there were affected people in every corner of the world, the speed of the disease seemed to spread much faster in areas with a thick population density. The irony was that hospitals were not only immune from the disease, but infected individuals who went to the hospital only seemed to succumb to the disease more quickly. Those being transported by ambulance sometimes never even made it to the hospital even with the fastest of speeds and the loudest of sirens.

The President had died within the first week of the illness, soon followed by the Vice President and the Speaker of the House. At first everyone was put on a curfew, or more like house arrest. Because the CDC did not know how the disease was spreading or have any type of cure, the best thing for the people was to enforce Marshall Law. Ironically individuals who went out looting usually wound up dying before they made it away with their goods, their bodies found in the stores and on the streets, blood seeping from their ears and a look of inexplicable anguish upon their faces.

The military and police stopped responding to alarms and calls because it seemed to only trigger the disease in those responding. The call centers were also shut down because those taking calls began suffering symptoms.

Sadly it seemed like few were immune. A nurse at a hospital in Detroit went back to her station to feed the newborn babies only to find that they had all died in only the short time she had stepped away to deliver one infant to her mother. This was only the first of similar infant deaths, and it sent fear and outrage through the masses and in the panic many members of the CDC were attacked and killed. If the disease wasn't enough, panic was beginning to turn people on each other.

But there were some people who were in fact immune, or at least seemed to have a very slow progression of the disease once the symptoms began to show. Individuals who were hearing impaired seemed not to suffer any effects to the disease, which was the first sign of hope for the CDC is trying to figure out a cause and a cure. The theory first emerged when all but one employee in a law office in Louisville, KY died when the fire alarm went off due to a burnt pot pie left in the company's toaster oven a few minute too long. The only employee to survive was a paralegal who had been deaf since birth.

"I knew the fire alarm had gone off because the emergency lights came on, but I could also smell the smoke. At first I thought that everyone was in a panic out of fear, but no one was trying to leave the building. At first everyone was covering their ears, I have never heard a fire alarm but I assume it is probably quite loud. But everyone looked in pain. When I tried to help one of my colleagues to the exit she lashed out at me. When I tried to help her again she pushed me into the wall. I thought she was going to come at me again, but instead began to hit her head against the wall. I was scared and I ran out of the building at that point. When I got outside the fire department had arrived, only they were not going into the building. I begged them to help my friends but they stood there looking at themselves, looking at me. They let them all die."

The elderly or individuals wearing FM units (hearing implants) seemed to have a much slower progression with the disease, one young man in his early 20's with a hearing implant had lived for nearly two months while the CDC tried every possible test on him to find the connection between his hearing loss and the disease.

Once the word leaked out that those with hearing impairments were less likely to contract the disease or that the progression of the disease was slower, a mass hysteria seemed to spread throughout the world. Hospitals in countries all around the world were taking drastic measures to prolong life in those who were symptomatic, rupturing ear drums and inserting large plugs into the ear canals of the infected. The result of the procedures wound up being quite the opposite of their hypothesis and death usually occurred before the individual was out of the OR.

People were dying, and there didn't seem to be a cure in sight.


	3. Chapter 3 - Marshall Law

Chapter Three - Marshall Law

Once the President, Vice President, and the Speaker of the House all died from RTP the country started to panic, and the riots and looting seemed to start. Marshall Law was put into effect and the military stepped in to bring order over the chaos, a lot of good that did. In fact, Marshall Law brought hundreds of thousands of people to their death. But, in the end it was an eye opener for those left at the CDC still trying to work on understanding the disease, and finding a cure.

I remember the day that Marshall Law was first established. It was the general consensus that we had better start stocking up and preparing for being housebound for a long while, slowly towns across America had been establishing strict curfews and unless you were some sort of essential state employee you were asked to stay in your home. It was only a matter of time before my small town was put under the same restrictions and so I decided to fill up my car, as well as two fuel jugs I had used during many a harsh winter storm when I had to live off my portable generator.

Many stores had stopped taking debit or credit, so I went to the bank to pull out whatever I could in cash. They could only give out $500, but I decided to see if I was able to pull out money at the ATM machine, and indeed I could. So I pulled out my max limit of $450 there and then wrote out checks at Samson's Feed and Seed and Nature's Basket, our local health food store. Unlike the large chain grocery stores Nature's Basket still had plenty of water and non-perishable items on the shelves. Thankfully they also had some herbal cold medicine because I had been sick for nearly a week with a head cold and had been feeling too under the weather to venture out for even some much needed throat lozenges.

Samson's was not quite the same shopping experience, there were screaming customers wanting generators and other supplies. I still was not feeling my best, my saving grace was that my ears were still pretty blocked from my head cold and so it was far more muffled for me than poor Mr. Samson who beginning to show signs of serious agitation. The only reason I went to Samson's is because I knew that if things were to progress long term I may have to consider furthering my self-sustaining life style. I grew a lot of my own food during the spring, but I was switching over to a new hydroponics system that I had already built, but had yet to purchase the growstones needed before I could start seeding. Samson's had more than enough, and I probably purchased more than what I really needed, but I'd rather have more than I need than not enough.

After I made it home from the store I felt like I had just run a marathon, so before even putting anything away I laid down for a nap. I woke up to a whole new world.

I went online to check my e-mail and see what was going on in Facebook land, or more to the point, seeing who was still posting and who wasn't. It became a daily trend to post a status message at least once a day to see who was still able to get online. Some areas had lost power due to rioting or just the lack of workers to repair common power outages, and so we knew that not everyone would have the ability to check in. Of course if someone didn't check in for more than a day or two there became the sinking feeling that they had contracted the disease, but without confirmation I liked to just chalk it up to technical difficulties. The eternal optimist.

Everyone was sharing one of three or four news reports regarding Marshall Law and that effective immediately everyone was to remain in their homes. Anyone experiencing an emergency was to hang a long sheet out of their window, military and police personnel would be patrolling the neighborhoods as frequently as possible. Because the call centers were shut down the military and law enforcement set up internet websites where you could post a current household census (used for food distribution), emergencies, and to report deaths (for pick up and disposal). As inhumane as it sounds, there was no way with everything going on that there could be funerals, instead they were cremating the remains and holding them at the local mortuary until they could be returned to their families.

The disease was continuing to spread to all corners of the globe, and although there had been a correlation made between hearing ability and the speed in which the infected died, all of the infected continued to die regardless of the tireless efforts of the CDC. And the CDC wasn't really the CDC anymore, few original employees still remained. Scientists and doctors had joined the ranks and were coming up with half a dozen new treatments daily, but none of them seemed to stop the progression of the disease once the ringing began.

Another huge change was that neighborhoods were going to be staggering power consumption in 6-hour intervals. By the grid on the map I will have power from midnight - 6 a.m. and from noon to 6 p.m. I lived in an area where there were few natural sources for energy like wind turbines or solar power, and so my town was completely dependent on the grid. I did have a small solar outlet, it was a cute little gadget I was given last Christmas. It didn't produce very much energy for very long, but it could run a light or another small electrical device for a couple of hours. I also had the generator and two full jugs of fuel as well as a tank of gas if I had no choice but to siphon it out. Being summer there wasn't much need for heat, but I did have a pellet stove with bags of pellets left over from last winter. I have city water and not well, so I wasn't really worried about power for my water needs.

Mail was also going to be stopping within the week. The next day was the last day they would be picking up any mail, and they could not guarantee delivery. The post office was going to be distributing a packet of information about the newly instituted Marshall Law, and of all of the procedures put in place. They were also going to be distributing a small package of supplies to all of the homes. Those that filled out the census with information regarding medical needs or having infants were going to be given medicines, formula, diapers, etc.

But even in all of this reassurance and support I felt uneasy and a little scared. Little did I know at the time that I had a lot to be scared about.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Day the Phones Stopped

Chapter 4 - The Day the Phones Stopped Ringing

We take a lot in life for granted. We take the people in our life for granted. We assume that our needs will always be met and that the people we love and care about will always be there. That unfortunately is not always going to be the case.

I don't have any family, I was raised in the foster system and had been on my own since I was 18. I did however have many close friends, best friends I loved like sisters, colleagues that were some of my biggest confidants, and a great neighborhood filled with caring people and families that filled the streets with laughter. Or at least that is how it used to be on Lakeview Drive.

That all changed the day Marshall Law went into effect. It's funny how something that was established to provide a sense of safety and security did pretty much the exact opposite. The fact that it was put into effect immediately started a panic. Other countries based on their government also took similar measures with the same civilian response.

The survivalists were in their hay day, they were more than prepared to be held up in their homes with plenty of supplies, and plenty of guns. The rest of the people had to hope that the supply deliveries came on schedule, and those that had lost hope began taking matters into their own hands.. Houses that were abandoned were marked by the military with a big black X on the front door, and those homes became target for such invasions. The problem then became looting without being seen, and not running into others there to do the same thing. In the beginning the chance of an altercation was greater because there were less vacant houses, and the military and law enforcement quite literally took no prisoners and the looters were shot on sight. The original plan, or so I read in a package delivery a few weeks into Marshall Law, was that all caught looters were going to be taken to a detention facility to package up goods for distribution, certainly a punishment that fit the crime. That changed the day that a huge riot broke out in a west Texas town when a group of looters gunned down a dozen soldiers who were responding to a house alarm. That was not the first occurrence of violence against the military, however the soldiers were gunned down before they even confronted the looters. The men open fired through the windows of the small mobile home and it showed the military that the civilians were no longer playing by the rules. If they were going to loot, they did so knowing that they would be shot on sight if caught.

I certainly was not about to leave my house, and I started from "lock down" in preparing for a long stay before they finally found a cure. I did take a few safety precautions that I normally did not do such as keeping my car not only locked in the garage, but I took a few parts that a person stealing my vehicle might realize they need. All of my hydroponics supplies and fuel were safely locked in my basement, and all of my doors and windows were closed and locked at all times. There had been a few local home invasions and I decided to take a proactive approach the way many families were doing.

Then one day the phones stopped working. Not one cell phone or landline worked ANYWHERE in the U.S. I didn't have a landline but my cellphone had stopped working shortly after Marshall Law because the tower by my house was damaged and didn't get repaired. The military had received some intel that there was going to be an attack on one of the main Naval bases on the East Coast and that the conversation had originally been overheard on a scanner. Just like criminals sit in the parking lot with special apps to retrieve credit card data sent electronically over the network, there were other devices that could listen in on cell phone conversation, grab text messages , and really any type of transmitted communication. The military investigated the matter and when doing so had come across other similar plots being created to either loot, attack military or law enforcement bases, or other crimes.

So the military decided that in order to protect the public, military, and property against the likes of criminals such as these (which in reality were probably terrified fathers wanting to protect their families rather than some criminal mastermind) they would have to disable all means of communication that they could not constantly monitor. For those who still had working connections to the internet there was really very little you could do. Servers all around the world had gone offline or been shut down by the military and all logins were redirected to the main site everyone was given at the very beginning of the crisis. E-mail servers were shut down, and instant messaging programs were disabled. The site displayed news (or at least the news the military chose to share), information on supply deliveries, and weather reports. There was a blog format communication section broken up by state and then town where you could post a message. If the message had any information that came across as coded it was not posted. I once posted a message in response to a co-worker commenting that we would have been on summer break and not only did they not post my response saying that we really needed to get away, maybe to the Bahamas, that if I posted another message of the sort (with a laundry list of no-no's that were evidently outlined in posting guidelines that I did not follow correctly) that I would be blocked from the forum.

I pretty much just checked in from that point forward, the forum was my only contact with the outside work and I just couldn't lose it, I was already so lonely.


End file.
